The Best Resources For Learning C++

C++ is rather a difficult language to learn, but once you’ve got the hang of it, it becomes a rather impressive qualification to boast about at job interviews. C++ is used for anything from search engines to operating systems to video games, and is compatible across the major smartphone platforms. And you can be sure that the big companies such as Microsoft and Google will take a bigger interest in your job application if you mention a C++ proficiency.

Here today, we are going to show you the best online resources for learning C++. Codecademy doesn’t offer a C++ course unfortunately, but there are plenty of other resources ready to fill the void that Codecademy has left.

Don’t forget to check out this really useful booklist over at Stack Overflow for more study materials (it’s been described in many places as the “definitive C++ book list”). Before starting any of the tutorials, you will also need to download and set up the Visual Studio IDE as well. This is provided free of charge from Microsoft.

LearnCPP is a step-by-step course on learning C++ from the ground up. The text is fairly straightforward to understand, but it does have the habit of getting a bit dense in places.

Spread out over 17 chapters (with approximately 10-15 sections to a chapter), as well as two appendixes, this site is a monster when it comes to knowing all there is to know about C++. Start with installing an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Then move onto essentials such as variables, operators, and how a program is structured.

This is a site which has been in operation for almost 10 years, but it was updated as recently as December 2015. So the site is still alive and kicking.

Made by Programming Tutorials, this 7-part series takes you through the basics to get you started on C++. With crystal-clear screenshots and an easy to listen to voice, these tutorials make learning C++ very straightforward, and I have found myself subconsciously starting to follow them. Create your first C++ program, and learn about conditional statements, loops, and runtime errors.

This is not the only C++-related YouTube video series (there are many of greatly varying quality). But these should rank as one of the first you should look at, being one of the best.

XOAX.net is an amazing set of 56 video tutorials, hosted on YouTube, each only a few minutes in length. Each one covers a particular area of mastering C++, such as variables and constants, switch statements, and fundamental data types.

What’s great about the tutorials is that every so often, you are given the opportunity to create something. This can be Blackjack, creating Matrix effects, or Space Invaders. This serves to highlight the wide range of things you can create with a knowledge of C++. And it also helps to break up the tedium of studying by letting you create something fun.

And being video tutorials beats dry stuffy text any day of the week. As you watch the video, click the link below it to download a zip file with the code being discussed. That way, you can play around with the code as you listen.

Once again, as with the Python language, Google is offering free classes in learning the C++ language. This may be in part because the Google search engine is built on C++, so Google has a vested interest in keeping people interested in learning the language.

The major difference though between their C++ class and their Python class is that their C++ offerings don’t include tutorial videos. Considering they own YouTube, it’s mystifying why they didn’t make the effort to do some videos.

Nevertheless, Google tries to make the whole learning experience as painless as possible, with lots of exercises and their solutions. It starts with the basic “Hello World” exercise and works its way up to more complicated exercises. Finally when you think you have mastered the essentials, Google provides a big quiz which will test your skills.

No article of this kind would be complete without an online course, and this one from the University of California Santa Cruz delivers big time. The only caveat is that this one is not for beginners. You need to have “a basic understanding of algorithms and object-oriented software”. If you have that, this course is the next step in your education.

The free course consists of 102 video tutorials, each one in either HTML5 or flash. The length of each video range from 5 minutes to 15 minutes (with a couple even clocking in at 30 minutes). It covers the entire gamut from converting a C program to C++ to Assertion and Exception Handling.

Each video has one or two quiz questions to test your understanding, and successful completion of the course will bring a certificate to add to your list of programming qualifications.

Conclusion

C++ was created in 1983 and over 30 years later, it is still going strong. With high profile apps like Outlook being created with C++, this is a programming language which would be a good idea to learn if you are looking for a marketable skill which will get you ahead in the job market. It’s not the easiest language to learn, but if you stick with it, you will reap the rewards later.

Jamie

My name is Jamie Spencer and I have spent the past 5 years building money making blogs. After growing tired of the 9-5, commuting and never seeing my family I decided that I wanted to make some changes and launched my first blog. Since then I have launched lots of successful niche blogs and after selling my survivalist blog I decided to teach other people how to do the same.

1Comment

Bella

I also found this website codesdope.com providing really awesome tutorials on C and C++. Any beginner can very easily learn programming from level zero till he masters over the programming language. Even more helpful is its much active discussion forum where we can ask doubts from a team of experts which is always ready to help us out.